Your top 10: Tech giant job losses; £47m internet deal; and a championship golf course for Bolton?
EARLIER this week Japanese electronics giant Fujitsu announced that up to 1,800 jobs could be cut in plans that will affect about 18% of its 10,000 strong UK workforce.
Three sites across the North West will be affected, in Manchester, where it employs 636 staff, Warrington (511) and Crewe (16).
The firm said that the workforce reduction would come as part of a “transformation programme” it is undertaking and did not relate to the outcome of the EU referendum.
The news landed on the same day that Fujitsu staff in Manchester were voting in an industrial action ballot over pay, pensions and job security – union Unite claims that the company has been cutting pay rates for years, despite healthy profits and that it is failing to tackle a significant gender pay gap.
The result expected this coming Wednesday 19th October.
Staying in Manchester, £21m-turnover network services provider Metronet (UK) has bought internet hosting company M247 for £47.5m.
Backed by private equity firm Livingbridge, Metronet employs 150 people across two sites in Manchester.
The acquisition of M247, also based in Manchester, means Metronet will be able to offer a combined portfolio of connectivity and content services including wireless network services, datacentres and managed hosting solutions across the UK and Europe.
The combined business will have three datacentres, more than 200 staff and EBITDA in excess of £12m.
Finally, and fittingly for a weekend round-up, there are plans for a championship standard golf course on the historic Hulton Park Estate near Bolton.
Hulton Park Estate was the home of an aristocratic family who lived in Bolton for almost a millennium until the death of the last in the line, Sir Geoffrey Hulton in 1990s. The family was the inspiration behind Julian Fellowes’ creation for TV, Downton Abbey.
Included in property giant Peel’s ambitious plan is the creation an 18-hole golf course capable of hosting the Ryder Cup within 10 years, alongside proposals for a new golf academy, luxury hotel, conference facilities and a spa.
But the proposal could also see nearly 3,000 new homes built nearby – something Cllr David Chadwick, Westhoughton town council leader and Bolton Council’s transport supremo, has warned would “decimate” the area.
